EU’s flagship green scheme siphons cash from consumers and employers to energy fat cats
Posted by Nick Cowen in Economics, Environment, European Union, Press Release on 04/01/2012
Emissions Trading System shrinks economy but not Britain’s carbon footprint
The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is siphoning billions from industry and consumers to plump up finance and energy fat cats, according a new Civitas report. The report reveals that, via the EU ETS, each EU citizen is effectively subsidising the power industry by £30 a year. [p. 13] In addition, the Government is adding more costs to UK families and businesses via the carbon price floor which sets a minimum price for carbon credits. This carbon price floor is expected to push another 110,000 British households into fuel poverty by 2016. [p. 61]
CO2.1, by David Merlin-Jones, is a comprehensive examination of how the EU ETS fails at its own goal of reducing carbon emissions. It details how carbon traders, banks, energy companies and the government are extracting billions from productive businesses and consumers via the EU ETS, while undermining the vulnerable UK economic recovery.
Misleading claims about economic benefits of Equality Act are endangering jobs
Posted by Nick Cowen in Political Correctness, Press Release, Race and Equality on 03/01/2012
Contrary to government assurances, new equality rules will have no economic benefit and questionable impact on real inequality
As unemployment continues to grow, a new Civitas report reveals that new equality regulations threaten further job losses. The Equality Act 2010 introduced new duties on employers to protect disadvantaged groups from discrimination in the workplace and combines existing anti-discrimination law into one act. The Government’s official Impact Assessment of the Equality Act claimed that it would produce net economic benefits of £25-£87 million annually and increase access to jobs. But Assessing the Damage, by Nigel Williams, finds that the Government’s Assessment relied on a series of spurious assumptions, and that the more probable outcome is job destruction.
Is there any room at the inn? (or anywhere for that matter)
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Politics on 20/12/2011
Yesterday the FSA set out new rules for mortgage lending. The new rules were positively received as a way to prevent the excessive risk taking that occurred in the run up to the financial crisis when people were clearly sold unaffordable mortgages. This tightening of the standards comes almost a month after the Government pledged to back mortgages for first-time buyers, another move that was widely supported as a way to stimulate the housing market. Is there a contradiction though between subsidising lending and tightening up standards?
How to avoid another exam board scandal
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 15/12/2011
By David Green
The Telegraph’s brilliant exposure of the behaviour of some exam boards should not be dismissed with a couple of sacrificial sackings. It revealed profound flaws, not just in our school system, but also in the way our democracy is currently functioning. The attitudes behind the scandal are closely allied to the self-serving atmosphere in Parliament that led some MPs to fiddle their expenses. Deception of the people had became the norm, whether it was creative use of second homes, or manipulating exam results. The rot always starts at the top, and getting rid of the hapless examiners who got caught will make little difference unless we go much further.
Human rights: in praise of practice over principle
Posted by Nick Cowen in Civil Liberty, Crime, Human Rights on 12/12/2011
Sigrid Rausing offers a powerful and clear defence of keeping European Court of Human Rights’ decisions superior to the democratic will of Parliament. But her argument is lacking in a number of important respects and, in the end, risks weakening the power of the concept of human rights to command reasoned agreement in a democratic society.
No one puts David in the corner!
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 09/12/2011
The UK woke up reeling from the astonishing news that Prime Minister David Cameron has walked out of an EU Summit and effectively removed the UK from EU treaty negotiations: treaty negotiations which were aimed at ‘salvaging’ the Eurozone. Not just making headlines in the UK; it seems David Cameron’s decision has captured attention across the globe. Of all the angles being examined, two are particularly striking – the apparent shock that David Cameron has followed through and done exactly as he said he would, and whether such a brash move has damaged the UK’s international standing and its ability to negotiate with its EU neighbours.